{"id":4287,"date":"2025-12-09T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-09T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/?p=4287"},"modified":"2025-12-11T16:27:53","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T16:27:53","slug":"real-alcazar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2025\/12\/09\/real-alcazar\/","title":{"rendered":"Real Alc\u00e1zar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

When I booked tickets for the Real Alc\u00e1zar, there were several options including Cuarto Real Alto and la Cripta Arqueol\u00f3gica. I could not get the site in English, but it looks like the Arqueol\u00f3gica is only available to people living in Seville. However, I could get tickets for the Royal rooms. I assumed it was just smaller appartments set up. The tickets were a bit unclear so I checked – they had a large 11:00 on them but said we could get in the monument up to 60 minutes or 30 minutes after, but had to be there 15 minutes before. So I thought it meant we could enter the Alc\u00e1zar at 10:00 and had to be at the Royal Rooms fifteen minutes before 11. I was correct so we headed off for the Alc\u00e1zar, with a stop by the post office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a huge queue for the 9:30 entry and the 10:00 entry was growing so we joined the 10:00 one figuring that’s what time we’d get to the entrance. We actually got to the entrance about 9 minutes early so they asked us to step to one side until 10:00. At 10:00 we were allowed in and the guide gave us information on how to find the royal rooms. To get into the Alc\u00e1zar you have to go through security – bag check and metal detectors like an airport. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So we looked at the courtyards and rooms while going toward the royal rooms – the guide was so strict about the time we had to be there we were a bit stressed about time. I was expecting a smaller set of rooms, with a queue, and timed entry. It wasn’t like that at all. We headed up and got a stern lecture about how we were not allowed to take anything into the rooms – everything had to be left in lockers and absolutely no photos. After being scanned again! I got told off because I headed straight for the lockers. So got bags scanned and everything secured in lockers, then through a metal dectector again, then grouped in front of a door – there were around 10 to 15 of us in a group. We were all given audioguides and told to start them at the same time. The first bit of the guide was the rules and that’s when I found out we were going into the rooms currently used by the royal family when they are in Seville. I’m so used to current royal accommodation not being open for tourism that it was a surprise. So our little group was accompanied by two guards who directed us through the rooms, led by the audioguide. The best bits were the balconies and walkways overlooking areas of the palace – the gardens, the Courtyard of the Maidens, and the Ambassadors’ Hall. We really only saw the public royal rooms, but the views were lovely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We then spent the rest of the morning wandering around the building and gardens. It gets quite crowded! By lunchtime our feet were hurting so we headed off, stopping at the gift shop, to search for lunch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We ended up in a small Mexican restaurant – Sede Mexico<\/a> – where we had a brilliant lunch. Margaritas to start (Hibiscus for me and chillimango for Joe) both had chilli salt which was spicy. Then a huge salad to share and main courses. It was a really lovely meal and the staff were very nice. In fact, all the staff in Seville were nice, even the stern guards at the Alc\u00e1zar. We then had a slow walk back to the hotel where we ended up just watching bad films (in Spanish\/Spanish dubbed) and packing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I booked tickets for the Real Alc\u00e1zar, there were several options including Cuarto Real Alto and la Cripta Arqueol\u00f3gica. I could not get the site in English, but it looks like the Arqueol\u00f3gica is only available to people living in Seville. However, I could get tickets for the Royal rooms. I assumed it was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4T97-179","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4281,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2025\/12\/06\/final-day\/","url_meta":{"origin":4287,"position":0},"title":"Final Day","date":"Saturday, 6 December 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Up early as we were off at 6am as the others were flying out that morning. We briefly thought of staying and making our way to Seville, but the weather was the same damp and cloudy, with no improvement; so we headed back to the airport with the group. Due\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4283,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2025\/12\/07\/seville-cathedral\/","url_meta":{"origin":4287,"position":1},"title":"Seville Cathedral","date":"Sunday, 7 December 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"We ended up sleeping for nearly 12 hours and then took a long slow start to the day. We had tickets for the Cathedral for 14:35 so had plenty of time. We had coffee in the room, sorted our bags and clothes, put stuff in the safe, and gathered together\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":292,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2009\/09\/13\/sunday-rock-n-roll\/","url_meta":{"origin":4287,"position":2},"title":"Sunday – Rock n Roll","date":"Sunday, 13 September 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Goals for the day: get to EuroDisney, get checked in, have lunch, ride the Rock 'n' Rollercoaster (as it would be closed the rest of the week). So we're up early, too early for a Sunday, and head out to the station. Get the train, change at Lille (interesting as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":153,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2008\/04\/14\/florence-tips\/","url_meta":{"origin":4287,"position":3},"title":"Florence Tips","date":"Monday, 14 April 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"We took the train which is a nice way to go though we didn't get much sleep. So were a bit tired the first day. The other problem was the train was late - both ways. We were two hours late into Florence and about an hour late into Paris\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Tips"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1985,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/23\/meet-you-on-the-train\/","url_meta":{"origin":4287,"position":4},"title":"Meet you on the train","date":"Saturday, 23 August 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"So Joe has been working in Amsterdam all week, leaving me all on my own. Except last night I got on the ferry and came over. Got to Rotterdam and got on the 09.58 train to Antwerp. Joe got on the 09.18 from Amsterdam to Antwerp. I booked the tickets\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4098,"url":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/2019\/03\/25\/another-country\/","url_meta":{"origin":4287,"position":5},"title":"Another Country","date":"Monday, 25 March 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Or we went to the Vatican today (ooo look, the Sistine Chapel!). Up stupidly early - 5am - as I got breakfast tickets for the Vatican. Slightly less than the early morning \"open the museum\" tickets, but still very early! (So the open the museum is you show up at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Travel"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4287"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4287"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4288,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4287\/revisions\/4288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.purple-penguin.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}